Balance Ball - useful or useless?

ladyraven68

I have aquired a gym/balance ball.

Is it any good as a fitness tool, or just another gimmick?

andeey

It's what I do my crunches on ... gives some (soft) support for the lower back and if I go all the way flat back, it really burns my abs after a very short time. My hubby uses it to "churn the butter" while planking, which he says kills him. So I would say yes, for some select exercises, it's a great tool.

Sharonks

I've used it as a bench to do dumbell flys. I use it as a prop to stretch my back. I do crunches on it. I haven't tried it yet but I have a ball pilates video I want to try. Another one of my friends says ball pilates is great.

Cdn_Dot

It's a very good tool. Can also be used as a weight bench for chest/ back work, works your abs and core while doing so. Can be used for physio therapy exercises for your back. And is just plain fun at any age to bounce on.

bprillcc08

It is very useful! There are hundreds of exercises that you can do on them. You can even just YouTube some exercises to start you out to give you some variety. Change up what you do each day so you don't get bored with it.

ladyraven68

Thanks folks, some great ideas there.

Ant_the_old_keith_lemon

cruches on the ball
crunches with back on the floor and legs on the ball
planks - face down and face up
chest press with dumbells
ball between legs and lift from floor to 90 degrees with the floor - ouch!!!!!
same as above but meet the legs with the arms and transfer the ball over to the arms & lower OUCH!!!!!!
pressups - makes them easy to start as you can have your knees on the ball - move further out as you progress - then 1 leg

ummm the list is endless - squeeze ball between legs for inner thigh muscles..
squats with ball in hands for warmups and cardio

I LOVE THEM!! i do a class every thursday - its the best class ive ever done ans you can laugh at people falling off, takes the seriousness out of the gym yay!

Bobby_Clerici

depends on you.
I love body-weight exercise, so for me, it's great. Give it a try:bigsmile:

sun33082

I'm bad. I use mine for a foot rest while I'm sitting at the computer lol. It helps me elevate my legs when they are swollen from water retention lol

I do plan to use it again and these ideas are great.

ninerbuff

Personally I don't like for clients to use them. Stability apparatuses were DESIGNED for rehab, so IMO if you aren't rehabbing then it's not needed.
The whole "you engage your core more" was studied and shown that training on unstable surfaces DOESN'T strengthen the core any more than doing standard exercises.

1.Hodges, P.W. and C.A. Richardson, Inefficient muscular stabilization of the
lumbar spine associated with low back pain. A motor control evaluation of
transversus abdominis. Spine, 1996. 21(22): p. 2640-50.
2. Hodges, P.W. and C.A. Richardson, Delayed postural contraction of transversus
abdominis in low back pain associated with movement of the lower limb. J Spinal
Disord, 1998. 11(1): p. 46-56.
3. Freeman, M.A., M.R. Dean, and I.W. Hanham, The etiology and prevention of
functional instability of the foot. J Bone Joint Surg Br, 1965. 47(4): p. 678-85.
4. Jull, G.A. and C.A. Richardson, Motor control problems in patients with spinal
pain: a new direction for therapeutic exercise. J Manipulative Physiol Ther, 2000.
23(2): p. 115-7.
5. Richardson, C.A., et al., The relation between the transversus abdominis muscles,
sacroiliac joint mechanics, and low back pain. Spine, 2002. 27(4): p. 399-405.
6. Sapsford, R.R., et al., Co-activation of the abdominal and pelvic floor muscles
during voluntary exercises. Neurourol Urodyn, 2001. 20(1): p. 31-42.

Not to mention that instability training CAN cause more pain issue in joints like the ankle and wrists. Again personally I don't like to use them based on scientific evidence, but there are many that feel it helps them.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

tabulator32

It helps to relieve stress on the lower back when doing situps, crunches, et cetera.

You can also train a poodle to balance on it and rent him out to neighborhood kids' parties.

Josie_lifting_cats

I always liked doing crunches on them.

Now I have mine as a chair at my office at work. A few of us use them, but I'm probably the one that gets the craziest on mine. If I'm stressed, I sit there and bounce on it without even realizing it. Gotta work that tension out somehow!

nheilweil

Before tackling a balance ball, you should be able to perform a set of those exercise with perfect form without the balance ball. Once you can really nail an exercise perfectly by itself, there are a couple modifiers you can add to make it tougher!

- bigger range of movement (if you are squatting or doing lunges, go deeper into the move)
- add weight (do lunges with dumbbells)
- add instability (Bosu ball,balance ball, etc.)

With any of these modifications, focus on your form! Just like you are magnifying your ability to get stronger from doing a modified exercise, you are also magnifying your ability to get hurt!

jaweiss1

It helps to relieve stress on the lower back when doing situps, crunches, et cetera.

You can also train a poodle to balance on it and rent him out to neighborhood kids' parties.

Agreed! I really like the ball for crunches - more challenging than regular crunches or situps, larger range of motion than regular crunches, and easier on my low back. I also use the ball for back extensions:

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/ErectorSpinae/BWHyperextensionBallArmsCrossed.html

And hell yes on the poodle